


Formidable Women

by just_another_classic



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-21 20:25:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8259517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_another_classic/pseuds/just_another_classic
Summary: In the not-so-distant future, Ashley visits Emma in the hospital after the birth of Baby Swan-Jones.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I want more interaction between Emma and Ashley. And I wanted to build off the happy ending Emma envisioned in 6.03. And I wanted to talk about awesome ladies. This is the result.

The hospital room was quiet, its silence interrupted only by the soft ticks of the hanging clocks and the occasional beep of the medical equipment. It was strange to think that just a few hours prior, the room had been full of activity, doctors and nurses encouraging Emma along as she screamed in pain, gripping tightly to Killian’s hook as whispered words of love into her ear. (“That’s it, love, just a little bit more.”) And then there had been a cry, a beautiful cry ringing out above them all signaling life and health and strength.  
  
Hours after that moment, Emma sat in her bed, propped against pillows, sore and utterly exhausted, but deliriously happy. In her arms and nestled against her breast, her newborn daughter slept. It was just the two of them in the overly sterile room. Snow White had dragged away a reluctant Killian, insisting that he needed to both eat and give Emma time to rest. (“You won’t do them any good passing out from hunger.")  
  
As much as she looked forward to Killian returning, Emma had to admit that she enjoyed this moment alone with her daughter. She never had a chance to hold Henry this way. She never had the chance to hold him at all. Emma wondered if this had been an ulterior motive of her mother, and if she had enjoyed this same sort of quiet moment with Neal that she never had the chance to share with Emma. They had a lot in common, Emma and her mother, more than either really knew.  
  
Emma looked down at her daughter, swaddled in a white blanket patterned with tiny ducklings. (“Fitting for our little cygnet, don’t you think, Swan?” Killian had asked, his voice full of awe after the nurse had passed their daughter into their arms.) It felt a little unreal holding her in her arms, the eight months after discovering her pregnancy both flashing by in a blink of an eye and dragging all the same. Emma never liked being pregnant – not with Henry and not with this little one. She despised the morning sickness, the bloating, how unwieldy her body felt, and the way the townspeople felt the need to touch her stomach. (“I swear to God, Killian, you have permission to gut the next person who touches my stomach.”)  
  
A soft knock on the door startled her, and Emma looked up expecting Killian, her parents, or Henry. Instead, she was surprised to see Ashley standing in doorway, waving softly. “I hope I’m not disturbing you. I just heard the happy news, and thought I would stop by to say congratulations.”

“New flying around that fast?” Emma asked, knowing she shouldn’t be surprised. The labor had lasted six hours, and it had been almost another six hours since then. Plenty of time for the Storybrooke rumor mill to circulate the news of the birth of “Baby Swan-Jones”.

“Well, it is Storybrooke,” Ashley responded with a shrug and half-smile. “But if it makes you feel better, I’ve been on the floor most of the day. Clorinda _finally_ gave birth yesterday.”  
  
“Oh, wow, congrats to your sister!” Emma had actually known Clorinda had given birth. In fact, she had even cursed the woman’s name in envy when she’d heard the news from Leroy. (“If one more person has a baby before me, I will explode something. I’m not kidding, Killian, stop laughing!”) Of course, a few hours after that, Emma’s own contractions had started. “Boy or girl?”

“Boy,” Ashley answered, slightly giddy. “Michael. He was almost ten pounds, can you believe it?”

“Props to Clorinda.” Her daughter weighed seven pounds, and that had been painful enough. Emma realized that Ashley was still standing in the doorway. “Would you like to come in?” 

“Are you sure I’m not bothering you?” 

“It’s fine. I swear” And it was. Even though she was enjoying her quiet time, there was something earnest in Ashley’s eyes that Emma couldn’t deny. Besides, Emma felt a small bit of pride at being able to show off her little girl.

  
Ashley entered the room, and sat in the chair that had once been occupied by Killian. Emma adjusted the baby in her arms, allowing Ashley a better glance at the baby. “Oh, Emma, she’s beautiful.”

“Killian calls her the Jewel of the Realm.” She refrained mention that had also been the previous name of the _Jolly._ It was sweet, but she wasn’t sure Ashley would understand. “But her actual name is Charlotte.”  
  
Charlotte, the female derivative of Charles. Neither she nor Killian had wanted to name her after a lost loved one, feeling that it would be too much of a burden. Instead, they chose a special name for themselves, a special part of their own love story.  
  
“Hello, Charlotte,” Ashley greeted, waving as the baby slept. “It’s a pretty name. Fit for a princess.”

“We like to think so.”

“Speak of ‘we’, where’s Hook?” Ashley glanced around. “I’m surprised he left you alone for five minutes.”

“My mom forced him to get food. You don’t say ‘no’ to Snow White.”

“No, you don’t,” Ashley agreed. She paused, looking at Emma thoughtfully. “Honestly, if it hadn’t been for your mother, I might not have ever married Thomas, or even worked up the never to dance with him.”

“Really?” 

“Really. She was quite the wing woman,” Ashley said with laugh. Emma tried to imagine her mother playing matchmaker in the Enchanted Forest. It wasn’t difficult. “And you, Emma. You were the reason my family was able to stay together. You helped me find my happily ever after.”

Emma blushed under the sincerity of Ashley’s gaze. “You’re the one who has to keep fighting for it, you know.”

 “But you’re the one who broke the curse, and you’re the one who inspired me to keep fighting,” Ashley reminded her. “Honestly, knowing the type of women you and Snow are, I have no doubt that Charlotte here will become quite the formidable woman.” 

“I hope,” Emma said, looking down at her daughter. She had many dreams and wishes for her daughter, and strength of character and a strong sense of self were two of those things. 

“I know,” Ashley said firmly. She then sat up. “Anyway, I promised my sister I would find her a candy bar from the gift shop. I just wanted to stop by and offer my congratulations.”  
  
“Thank you for coming, Ashley. Really.” Emma reached out with her free hand to give Ashley’s hand a squeeze, one which the other woman returned.   
  
“Congratulations on your happy ending, Emma.”  
  
And with that, Ashley was gone. Not long after that, Killian swept back into the room, Henry at his heels. Henry held in his arms a stuff animal.

“A Crocodile, Mom,” he said, presenting the stuffed animal to his little sister as Killian rolled his eyes dramatically. Her son winked at his stepfather, and Emma stifled a laugh, careful not to wake her daughter. Ashley words weighed heavily on her mind as Henry recounted finding the stuffed animal in the gift shop, and though the woman was right about many things, she was wrong about one thing:

Emma hadn’t found her happy ending.  
  
Her story hadn’t ended yet. In fact, it had just begun.


End file.
